Israel threatens to 'destroy' Syrian air defence systems

In a rare confirmation, the Israeli army said in a statement that "a number" of its warplanes had struck positions inside Syrian territory. The IDF reported that its "aerial defense systems intercepted one of the missiles" and stressed that "at no point was the safety of Israeli civilians or aircraft compromised".

The secretary general of Lebanon's Hezbollah resistance movement, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, says Western powers are drawing on Takfiri terrorists in order to carry out their schemes in conflict-ridden Syria.

Although Russia has staunchly stood by the Syrian government in the country's six-year civil war, Russia has generally avoided summoning Israeli officials after reported Israeli operations in Syria in light of deconfliction mechanisms agreed upon between Israel and Russia in 2015.

The missiles triggered Israel's emergency sirens, which may have forced the army to issue a rare communique confirming the skirmish.

The Syrian army claimed it shot down one Israeli jet in the incident, and damaged another, but the IDF denied the claim. The Arrow is created to knock down incoming ballistic missiles and was developed with financial and technical assistance from the United States. As reported yesterday by JOL, an anti-aircraft missile was shot at Israel in response to the airstrike, which was intercepted by the IDF's Arrow System.

Or, in light of last week's meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin aimed at coordinating strategic interests and actions in Syria, perhaps Damascus felt the need to protest too much clarity between its Russian patron and its Israeli enemy.

In April 2016, Netanyahu admitted for the first time that Israel had attacked dozens of convoys transporting weapons in Syria destined for Hezbollah, which fought a 2006 war with Israel and is now battling alongside the Damascus regime.